iOS 17.1 broke iPhone 15 wireless charging, but only in these types of cars

iPhone 15 Plus review
(Image credit: Future)

The iPhone 15 and iPhone 15 Pro families of devices both support wireless charging, but reports suggest that the recent iOS 17.1 update broke that particular feature — specifically, when owners of specific cars try to charge their iPhones on the go.

Reports claim that wireless charging is no longer possible in GM cars after installing iOS 17.1, making this the second in-car charging-related issue to befall Apple's best iPhones. The iOS 17.1.1 update is thought to have fixed an issue that caused some BMW wireless chargers to break the iPhone's NFC features and now a new issue has come to light.

Unfortunately, it appears that the iOS 17.1.1 update didn't fix the issue for GM drivers, leaving them to charge using a cable if they need to top their battery off while on the road.

No power to you

The wireless charging issue has been popping up online for a little while now with 9to5Mac collating reports from across various sources including GM and Apple's own support forums, not to mention Reddit.

Notably, it's claimed that wireless charging worked just fine before these affected users installed iOS 17.1 which suggests that this is a software-related problem rather than faulty hardware. However, it's reported that those who contacted Apple about the problem have so far been told to reach out to GM to find a fix.

It's interesting that these wireless charging issues have started to come to light in the latest iPhones after years of the same feature working flawlessly across multiple iPhones and countless cars. The iPhone 15 and iPhone 15 Pro devices are the first to support the Qi2 standard, one that's loosely based on MagSafe, but it isn't clear how or even if that could be related to this issue.

Apple is already testing iOS 17.2 with developer and public beta testers and it isn't yet clear whether that update will help alleviate the issue for those who can't currently wirelessly charge their iPhones in their GM-made vehicles.

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Oliver Haslam
Contributor

Oliver Haslam has written about Apple and the wider technology business for more than a decade with bylines on How-To Geek, PC Mag, iDownloadBlog, and many more. He has also been published in print for Macworld, including cover stories. At iMore, Oliver is involved in daily news coverage and, not being short of opinions, has been known to 'explain' those thoughts in more detail, too. Having grown up using PCs and spending far too much money on graphics card and flashy RAM, Oliver switched to the Mac with a G5 iMac and hasn't looked back. Since then he's seen the growth of the smartphone world, backed by iPhone, and new product categories come and go. Current expertise includes iOS, macOS, streaming services, and pretty much anything that has a battery or plugs into a wall. Oliver also covers mobile gaming for iMore, with Apple Arcade a particular focus. He's been gaming since the Atari 2600 days and still struggles to comprehend the fact he can play console quality titles on his pocket computer.

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